When Fools Rush In
I have been working to clean up the yard as most of us are this time of year. While doing so I discovered an interesting life lesson. One that can also be taken as a leadership lesson of sorts. My home is near woods and as such I get a lot of plants and things that grow into my yard. One plant that is very strong but at times hidden would be Poison Oak and Poison Ivy. This means when I do yard work I need to be careful because I am very susceptible to things like this. I do not however fear these things; I just try to exercise a bit of caution when I know I will be around them.
One of my favorite trees is a huge white oak that is at the end of my drive way. This tree is very large quite tall. I personally think it’s a wonderful thing that this tree has been able to grow in an urban setting for all these years. My conservative guess is the tree is at least 70 years old. So, given the information that I found out when working with Wally – I was concerned that this old beauty had what looked to be vines growing at its base and up its trunk. Upon further inspection I grew even more concerned that there seemed to be so many of them. Now, seeing how Wally reacted to his freedom from a choking vine – I felt it my duty to help the older tree as well. Checking around the base, we saw no “leaves of three” and felt safe in removing some of the veins. Pulling them away from the bark and putting them in a pile, I then hauled them away for good. Feeling motivated about my accomplishment I moved to the rest of the yard.
Two day’s later – I am not feeling as good about this as I once was. One week later – I am in the hospital on a Sunday night because my arm is in pain (the itch was enough, when the pain set in I was worried). Also, it’s not just my arm, it’s moved to my side and going around my back and stomach. Oh yeah, time for more than what the local drug store could offer. Poison Ivy has claimed another victim. Some interesting things that I found out from the hospital and other resources – 90% of people are allergic to the crucial oil that is both on the plant and in the plant. If you think you are immune – think again. Most studies indicate that it’s all about time and exposure and sooner or later, you will get the rash just like everyone else.
Yep, that's really my rash
I was now instructed to stay away from the plant for awhile if at all possible (pain is not a usual side effect unless you are having a bad reaction to it). While sitting in my house treating my rash, I got to thinking. What have I learned here? For me, several lessons passed before my eyes – I will list them in no particular order for you here:
* I knew I was allergic to poison, yet I never checked out any resource to actually see different types of poison ivy. The second picture on wikipedia is exactly what I pulled off my old tree.
* Nursery rhymes are no substitute for information and knowledge. Lots of plans have “leaves of three” clover for instance. If I stay away from every one with 3 leaves, I’ll never leave my house!
* Rushing into any job, even a simple gardening one is just not a good idea. As a manager growing into a leader, I should have remembered that planning and evaluation are key to any successful project.
While I do not understand fully why nature has decided to place this potent plant among us, I have learned more respect for the beauty and danger of Nature. I have also learned that is not for me to judge what should and should not be out there but to tolerate and respect what is. After all, Native Americans used to use it for medicinal purposes. It feeds wild birds and animals that eat it without any ill effects. Butterflies use it to ensure that predators do not attack them while they feed. And maybe most important to some areas of the county is that it is proved to hold earth very well against erosion and is used near some oceans.
Most importantly, I can not blame the plant when I was the fool that rushed in.
What would a Leader do?
~ Learn from your mistakes and try hard not to make the same ones over and over again.
~ Plan any project you are completing. This means not just on Saturday I’ll mow the lawn, but a survey of what is in your yard that you need to know about before the work starts.
~ Learn to take the good with the bad when you can. For me, I doubt poison will ever be gone from my yard, so I will just have to use it to my advantage.
~ Look at my store for Nature of Leadership resources.
~ Invest in calamine lotion (okay maybe that one is just for me).
Resources:
http://www.poison-ivy.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy
